ALISON'S SPEAKING TOPICS
Travelogues
Alison Young is the Blissful Hiker and has walked over 14,000 miles on six continents. Her stories on trail are a mix of awe-inspiring photos, riveting story-telling and plenty of laughs.
Pluck and a Whole Lotta Luck
Pacific Crest Trail
The Pacific Crest Trail is a 1,600-mile trail from Canada to Mexico taking the hiker through the glorious mountain scenery of the Cascades and Sierras, volcanoes and deserts and three states on one of the most spectacular routes in the world. Join Alison Young, the Blissful Hiker, for spectacular images, video, sound and stories on this thrilling adventure of a lifetime.
New Zealand’s Long Pathway
Te Araroa
Q: What motivates a middle-aged woman to brave extreme weather, precarious river crossings, swarms of sandflies and epic mud?
A: Breathtaking scenery and a renewed sense of wonder.
New Zealand’s 2,000-mile “Long Pathway,” Te Araroa (TAY ah-dah-DOH-uh).
NEPAL
Great Himalaya Trail
The Great Himalayan Trail (GHT for short) follows “the highest feasible route across the Himalaya” through Nepal as well as Bhutan, India and Pakistan. I walked the far-eastern section of from Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest peak, to Makalu, the fifth crossing Lumba Sumba at 17,000 feet.
canadian rockies
Great Divide Trail
The Great Divide Trail is a rugged and challenging wilderness hiking trail traversing the Canadian Rockies crossing the divide 30 times. It begins in Waterton Lakes National Park at the Canada-US border and ends 700 miles to the north at Kakwa Lake, British Columbia.
the throne room of the gods
Karakorum Pakistan
High in the Mountains that separate Pakistan from China sit the highest mountains in the world, including K2, the most dangerous of all to climb. Happenstance would bring Alison Young there, first to visit her father, serving in the diplomatic core in Islamabad, and then connecting with strangers on a trek to this incredible place. It was one of the most dangerous yet electrifying experiences of a lifetime.
off-trail on the Continental Divide
Wind River High Route
It had been a dream for a long time – to walk Wyoming’s Wind River High Route, considered one of the finest, non-technical, end-to-end alpine journeys in the United States. But how could a middle-aged hiker with new hips and deteriorating knees make it happen? By picking an awesome set of girlfriends to hike with and taking it all one step at a time. The reward was spectacular granite towers, wildflower-covered meadows and hundreds of glacier-fed lakes and streams, plus deepening friendships.
an adventure to renewal
Arizona Trail
Transitions like the New Year, Advent, and Lent bring with them anticipation and opportunity. It’s a time we prepare for joy and inner peace, feelings that can often prove elusive. As arid desert gave way to lush forest, deep canyons to “sky islands,” surprises were revealed and steps became more grounded with the spirit and ones of meditative wonder.
Moose and wolves
Isle Royale
On an enchanted and remote island in the middle of the largest lake in the world, Alison Young went from FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out – to JOMO – the Joy of Missing Out. It was a time of pandemic, of shutdowns and uncertainty, of general restlessness. Still, she flew across Lake Superior with enough time to walk the island end-to end. Although trails were closed, rain obscured views and her body was breaking down, it was a journey that surprised her with joy.
GLORIOUS AND DANGEROUS
Pyrenean Haute Route
The Pyrenean Haute Route (HRP) is a challenging, 500-mile, off-trail, alpine thru-hike on the frontier mountain range of Spain, France and Andorra from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The hiker walks on scree, talus and snow through some of the most astounding landscapes in the world.
THE OLDEST LONG TRAIL IN THE WORLD
Appalachian Trail
The world’s premiere long distance footpath, the “AT” is located in the mountains of the eastern United States. It extends nearly 2,200 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine passing through 14 states. Blissful walked this trail as she awaited her cancer prognosis. After learning she needed surgery, she came home, took care of business – then went right back on trail.
South africa
Drakensberg Traverse
In one of the most extraordinary off-route hikes of her life, Blissful joins another intrepid hiker in walking the 120 miles on a magical escarpment of the “Dragon’s Back” into Lesotho and up the highest mountain in Southern Africa, Thabana Ntlenyana, “the pretty little mountain.” The wind never let up in this deserted and silent landscape, and the stars of the Milky Way were spectacular.
patagonia
Torres del Paine
Located in Southern Chile, Torres refers to the three immense and distinctive granite towers and Paine (PIE-nay) means ‘blue’ in the native Tehuelche language. But what caught my attention was the Cuernos – or horns – del Paine, spectacular spiky and multicolored magma-intruded peaks that tower some 6,000 feet above the Patagonian Steppes. Appearing as if whipped into a froth by giants, its tight group exemplifying a feeling of all things being extreme in this part of the world – the wind, the rain, the snow, the ice – and their power to shape everything in their path.
Boundary waters
The Border Route
It’s a land of moose, wolves, and bear crossed by Native Americans then Voyageurs along super-sized lake highways. Sitting on the international border between Minnesota and Ontario, this 70+-mile wild trail challenged and delighted with its beaver dam crossings, rugged track and spectacular boreal forest at the edge of the world.
Scottish Highlands
Cape Wrath Trail
The Cape Wrath Trail, Britain’s toughest long distance walk, stretches 230 miles through the West Highlands from Fort William to the remote lighthouse of Cape Wrath, it is an unmarked and sometimes trail-less route.
Along the shores of Gitchee Gumee
Superior Hiking Trail
In the transition zone between hardwood and boreal and along ancient volcanic ridges, the rugged and scenic Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) is a 310-mile path starting just south of Duluth and following the North Shore of Lake Superior to Canada.
swamps and gators
Florida Trail
Officially designated a National Scenic Trail in 1983, this 1,500-mile footpath extends from Big Cypress National Preserve in the Everglades to the Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida’s Panhandle.
island mountain
Trans-Catalina Trail
The Trans-Catalina Trail is a rugged 37.2 mile trail that traverses Santa Catalina Island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. Mostly tackling the island’s interior, there are five primitive campsites (no wild camping allowed) including two on pristine beaches.
Composers finding their Muse on Trail
At the Speed of Andante
Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Britten and Bach are just a few of the composers who used walking in nature as a tool for inspiration. They only intuited its power – especially when at a leisurely pace or andante (on-DON-tay) – but science bears out the benefits to our bodies and minds. –